


red

by chemicalroses



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Ereri if you squint, F/F, F/M, I'm Sorry, M/M, Sad, Titans, ereri, jeanmarco, not very romantic, springles - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-16
Updated: 2015-05-16
Packaged: 2018-03-30 20:50:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3951283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chemicalroses/pseuds/chemicalroses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>.</p><p>There’s a prick in his neck and then Levi is there, looking straight at him, through the red and past the cold eyes. Eren can’t recognize him at first, because he is blood and dirt and dead skin, not the stone faced corporal he knew. His face is different now, twisted, and there are tears running down his cheeks—which is why Eren is so confused, because Levi never cries. Levi never wavers. Levi never rebels. It may be beyond his control, at this point.</p><p>The only thing Eren knows is that it is not preferred, because only his grey eyes are clean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	red

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first SNK fic, but I plan to write more-- and not all of them will be angst, I swear!

He’s sprinting alongside Levi as they go off, blasts as clear as radio static. Washed out shades of red, purple and black can barely be seen through the fog, unlike either of their horses, who disappeared after their riders were thrown.

There is fire, fire _everywhere_ , which explains the ash and smoke in the air but not the fog, which had settled before any titans appeared. Eren is crying as they run blindly into the burning forest.

 _“We have to go back, we can’t leave them,”_ Levi’s mantra is the only thing holding the other together and that weight alone is enough to make him sink—but he couldn’t, not yet, not before they find everyone.

The flares are sudden and beautiful in the ashy sky. At least, that’s what Eren thinks.

It’s not until a few minutes later when they’re in the heart of the forest that they hear a familiar voice moaning from behind a thick brush. The branches dig into Eren’s already bleeding skin, but that pain is nothing compared to what lies behind; a landscape so destroyed that the trees looked to be wrenched from the earth and thrown back again. A place filled with cleaner air and more bodies, blood so thick that it dyes the grass red. A place with more titans.

Panic runs through his veins and makes his head hurt so badly that he keels over and vomits up nothing, praying to every god from every religion that this could be over quickly, that he could find everyone and take them back behind the walls, where it is safe.

( _Safer than this, at least_ , he immediately thinks afterwards.)

His ears are ringing as he looks up, disregarding the explosion happening behind him and more focused what’s ahead. _Think like the corporal_ , he figures, _the corporal won’t let this shake him, the corporal—_

His thoughts were silenced as he sees Levi shaking beside him. Hands clutching bloody wings of freedom crests close to his chest and eyes wider than they’ve ever been, the corporal sways, uneasy on his feet, and tries to breathe correctly, because this scene was too familiar—being knee deep in bodies of loved ones and still being entrusted with the few left alive.

It is hell, Eren decides, it is hell, because Levi is scared and there is so much red everywhere, too many bodies.

Including the ones of his friends.

Jean is in a titan’s hand, contorted into inhumane positions with bones thrust out of his skin, being raised slowly. Speed didn’t matter now though. Maybe he is with Marco, Eren lets himself believe, because they deserved so much better than this world—this cruel, murderous world that ripped them apart before they even realized they were supposed to end up together.

Connie is screaming over Sasha’s corpse, shaking her by the shoulders to try and wake her up. She doesn’t, not even when he’s begging, not even when they’re both cornered by titans and her name and three other words are the last ones to ever slip from his lips.

His blood splatters on the grass and her shirt.

Historia lies dead beside Ymir, who is tearing herself apart because she wasn't there to save her--wasn't there to protect her. 

Erwin is chewed slowly, painfully, as if his titan wanted him to suffer—but he took the pain like he had been waiting for it. Hange is everywhere, pieces of her scattered across the ground like breadcrumbs. Her glasses shatter with a crunch under a titan’s foot.

Mikasa comes close to surviving. How could she not, being one of the strongest? She would have made it; she had gas left to spare and only a few shallow cuts, but Armin's shriek distracts her long enough for a titan to snag her from the air and snap her in half as easily as if she had been a toothpick. Armin is next, and he goes down fighting.

She left her scarf behind the wall that day. He never got to see the ocean.

Eren doesn’t need to bite himself this time. The titan rips out from within him faster than ever before. Red is the only thing behind his eyelids, red and the bodies and the cold eyes of his once warm comrades. It is in his mouth, in his lungs and heart. It pumps through his veins.

He drowns in it.

Muscles ripping and bones snapping is all he can hear and he loves it, the feeling of killing them. None of them, the titans, stand a chance when he’s like this. No one can stop him; no normal human can, not when—

_“Eren!”_

The voice makes his head throb. It’s strong and cold, like the one he had known before, when everyone had a head on their shoulders and air in their lungs. Now it is just red.

_“Eren, you’ll kill yourself!”_

There’s a prick in his neck and then Levi is there, looking straight at him, through the red and past the cold eyes. Eren can’t recognize him at first, because he is blood and dirt and dead skin, not the stone faced corporal he knew. His face is different now, twisted, and there are tears running down his cheeks—which is why Eren is so confused, because Levi never cries. Levi never wavers. Levi never rebels. It may be beyond his control, at this point.

The only thing Eren knows is that it is not preferred, because only his grey eyes are clean.

 _“I’ll get you out,”_ Levi is talking to him again, with his voice softer now, like he’s trying to promise.

He knows it’s too late for promises. Maybe it is comforting to him, to have a distraction from inevitable death. Eren just happens to be his promise. Eren just happens to be his distraction.

What a tragic man.

Eren sinks deeper as Levi dances across his ripped skin, his usual graceful movements now jagged and sloppy. The gas tank runs out, and he uses his hands to climb. Two broken arms and crushed ribs weren’t about to stop him. If his bones won’t hold him then his muscles would. They had to.

He keeps going.

The red is in Eren’s head now, driving in ugly thoughts and bitter memories. It throbs against his skull, and Eren is sure it is going to crack—crack and spill more red over everything, over the bodies and cold eyes. He is sure he is going to die.

He doesn’t mind, though.

There is just enough time for him to rip off two more titan heads before the red chokes him and he can’t see anything, not until he’s falling out from his titan form. He’s completely limp, because his bones are shattered and there are two familiar arms hooked around his shoulders to support him as he gives in. The fall is long and numb. It’s close to relaxing.

Red falls with him.

Levi hits the ground before Eren does. There is more fire now then there was before, and the smoke is back—thick from the flames and the titan bones left decaying in front of them. Eren is quiet and still, blood draining from his skin faster than he could ever heal. Levi uses the stump of a leg he has left to painfully push himself on top of the other, to shield him from the smoke and the crumbling world around them. If they were going to die, he might as well suffer more. He deserves it.

The titans keep a steady pace towards them both.

It doesn’t hurt when Levi covers him. It feels nice, almost—like comfort. He would’ve appreciated it more if they weren’t dying.

His mouth is dry and his eyes are burning as he stares at the dark clouds scattered in the sky. It is so pointless, Eren thinks, for it to be this dark and not rain. Rain would feel nice. Rain would wash the red away.

 _Don’t be stupid_ , he reminds himself, _red stains_.

The red did stain; it was under his skin and filling his lungs, in places where it could never be retrieved.

Maybe it stained Levi, too.

He tries his best to focus on the corporal, who weighs close to nothing on top of him.

 _“I’m sorry,”_ He’s repeating over and over again in a monotone voice, _“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,”_

Eren wants to tell him that it’s not his fault, but his lips can’t move and no sound would come out if they could. He could only lie there and listen to Levi’s false confession. Red tears are dripping down both of their faces.

Their eyes grow cold.

Eren moves his broken body to cling to Levi’s as they breathe, chests heaving and voices numb, knowing that sorry isn’t enough to get rid of the stains.

Sorry isn’t even enough to get them through the night.


End file.
